The Rantings of a Complex Piece of Hardware

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Ruger 22/45 – Initial Review

Through some horse trading and such, I took possession of a brand new Ruger 22/45 on Thursday. After much discussion, Jennifer and I decided that we wanted the model that has the threaded barrel. If silencers ever actually go non-NFA, we’ll probably get a few of them. Until then, I don’t see paying the $200.00 racket and putting my name on the list of ‘those people’. Incidentally, did you realize that the threads for these .22-caliber silencers are the same as the threads on an AR-15 compensator? So, if you have a .223 silencer, it stands to reason that it will screw right onto the Ruger pistol. Not only that, but an M16 birdcage will fit on the 22/45 barrel as though it was intended to be there.

So anyway, this contraption was one of the many items of interest that we took with us when we visited Phlegmmy and LawDog this weekend, although they seemed to be more excited about the avocados. LawDog took this pistol in his paw and scratched his head, with a puzzled look on his face.

“Hmm,” he shrugged, “Fair enough. It does look kind of cool – like a Buck Rogers gun.”

Somehow, we’d made it across state lines with no more range toys than a couple of .22s. Even so, we managed to get out to the range with LawDog and throw copeous amounts of tiny lead projectiles downrange. Our S&W 617 performed predictably and boringly well. Phlegmmy’s lever action was dead accurate and ran all varieties of .22, although it was a little picky on the lever stroke with certain cartridges. The little Ruger exceeded every one of my expectations. We probably put more lead through it than the other guns combined, by a factor of two. In total, we went through about 600-700 hollow points, about 150-Colibris, and probably fifty each of CCI’s CB Shorts and .22 Quiets. The 22/45 didn’t so much as hiccup on anything. Of course, the lower powered ammunition would not work the action, but we’re not counting that as a flaw of the gun.

It seems to be dead-nuts accurate and it simply begs to be shot and shot and shot. Once we got back to the fort, I took down the Ruger and reassembled it, as I had heard that these things can be a challenge. That didn’t seem so hard. So, I took it down again. And then, it wouldn’t go back together. After futzing with it and growling at it for some time, I finally put it back in its little soft case and forgot about it for the night. The next morning, it slid together without issue. Last night, when Jennifer and I returned to the Evyl Robot Empyre, I gave both .22s a thorough cleaning and oiling, and touched up the polish on the 617. Oh yes, I suddenly realize that I haven’t given the revolver a proper review… We’ll have to fix that.

Anyway, we’re pretty thrilled with the Ruger. I’m less than excited about the magazine disconnect, and the gun requires that you use the slide release rather than being able to slingshot the bolt as you would the slide on a centerfire pistol, but I’m told these are easily correctable problems. As opposed to its Mark-series cousins, it does have a traditional magazine release in the proper location, and the bolt does lock back on an empty magazine. And, it happily runs hollow points. The factory sights are plenty acceptable, but I may want to install a set of hi-viz sights before I’m done with it. I’ve got a holster in the works for it that is turning out to be at least as sci-fi looking as the gun. It’s giving me an opportunity to work out some concepts at least. I expected to do some work to the pistol, but it is far better out of the box than I expected. If you’re looking for an affordable .22 pistol, I wouldn’t hesitate to give this one my recommendation.

3 thoughts on “Ruger 22/45 – Initial Review”

Concur! And a recommendation if I may. Match the sight picture and trigger pull to your primary carry gun. That way you get the ‘sight picture’ and ‘trigger’ action a whole lot cheaper than shooting your carry gun! (that’s what I did, and truly enjoy it)